Near Mechanicsville in Hanover County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)

The Bloody Eighth

Cold Harbor Battleﬁeld Park Walking Trail

By Bernard Fisher, February 15, 2009

1. The Bloody Eighth Marker

Inscription. The 8th New York Heavy Artillery joined the Army of the Potomac midway through the Overland Campaign in an effort to offset the Federal casualties suffered at the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. The regiment of 1,600 men, still fresh from serving in the defenses of Baltimore and now fighting as infantry, had seen only limited action before Cold Harbor.

Starting from this vicinity on the morning of June 3, 1864, the 8th New York attacked the Confederate earthworks located 500 yards in front of you as part of Grant’s assault to break Lee’s lines. The 8th New York sustained the highest loss of any regiment at Cold Harbor suffering 505 casualties, with the vast majority falling within 30 minutes. A veteran of the regiment later commented on the disastrous assault: “The army seemed to melt away like a frost in the July sun.”

The New York State Monuments Commission erected a monument to the 8th New York Heavy Artillery in 1909. It can be found in the Cold Harbor National Cemetery.

Erected by Hanover County Parks and Recreation, National Park Service.

Location. 37° 35.104′ N, 77° 16.636′ W. Marker is near Mechanicsville, Virginia, in Hanover County. Marker can be reached from

By Bernard Fisher, February 15, 2009

2. The Bloody Eighth Marker.

Cold Harbor Road (State Highway 156) 0.2 miles east of Boatswain Lane, on the right when traveling east. Click for map. This marker is located along a one-mile trail in the 50-acre Cold Harbor Battlefield Park. Marker is at or near this postal address: 6005 Cold Harbor Road, Mechanicsville VA 23111, United States of America.

More about this marker. On the right is a photo with the caption, "Colonel Peter A. Porter commanded the 8th New York Heavy Artillery at Cold Harbor. Major General John Gibbon reported, “The gallant Colonel Porter…fell only a few yards from the enemy’s works, surrounded by the dead of his regiment, which although new to the work, fought like veterans.”"

4. Cold Harbor Battlefield Park Walking Trail. This marker is one along the walking trail around a portion of the Cold Harbor Battlefield preserved by Hanover County Parks and Recreation. (Submitted on February 17, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia.)

Credits. This page originally submitted on , by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,386 times since then and 137 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on , by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016.